Relighting A Fire
by FallenRose24
Summary: Arizona attempts to right a wrong done against her wife, but she can only pray the proud Latina she married will see it that way. I'm not sure where this fits into the story line of Grey's Anatomy, but I felt like giving Arizona a chance to support Callie through the grief that Owen was throwing at her for most of Season 8.


Arizona stared at the white envelope sitting on the coffee table. It mocked her with its perfectly pressed corners and the freshly printed logo of the hospital. It was an image of perfection compared to the crinkled edges of the box of Marlboro Reds she held in a death grip between her pale fingers. How did she get herself into this mess? In theory, it seemed like a brilliant idea, a way to make up for a rather huge oversight by their new Chief and potentially have her wife fawning over her in a way that could only lead to hot 'thank you' sex. Why had it never occurred to her to consider that her wildly independent wife might not appreciate this grand gesture?

Callie would think of it as an act of pity, a demeaning pat on the back that only serves to make the person doing the patting feel morally satisfied, and Arizona nearly kicked herself for not thinking long enough before acting. She of all people should know how her wife would react to what lay within the confines of that stupid white rectangle. For God's sake, Callie had continued to pay for their take-out with the last dollar in her wallet after being disowned all those years ago – what made Arizona think her pride wouldn't get in the way now?

She was so screwed and not in the way she had been hoping for.

The sound of a slap and the sudden loss of weight in her right hand brought her back to reality. Blazing brown eyes were tearing into her soul, a deep scowl marring those perfect tan features she fell in love with, and her cigarettes were now scattered on the carpet.

Her wife was home.

Crap.

"Are you insane?" It took all of Callie's will power to keep her stern voice quiet with the hopes of not waking Sofia. "We have baby in the other room and you're thinking of smoking?"

"Callio-"

"No! You don't get to talk! And don't you dare even think about making this all about how you only smoke when you're in trouble. You're a mother, for crying out loud! We already have a child, so you don't get to act like one!" Callie bent down, shoving the white cancer sticks back in their battered box, and slammed them on the coffee table. That's when she noticed the envelope, addressed to her wife, stamped with the unforgiving name of their Chief. "Shit… what the Hell did you do?"

A letter from Owen? With the official seal of the hospital? In a neat, little, passive-aggressive white envelope that pretended to be innocent? Those usually only meant one thing and Arizona's silence had almost all but confirmed Callie's fears. She turned back to her wife, all traces of anger suddenly gone as a hand reached out to cradle the blonde's head.

"Sweetie… what happened?"

Arizona blinked in confusion. Why did Callie look so… wait… seriously!

"Oh my God, you think I got fired?"

Callie retracted her hand as if she'd been burned, a little frightened by the startled anger she saw reflected in blue eyes. "Um, no?"

"You did! You totally thought I got fired! Why the Hell would Owen fire me?"

"I don't know, but what was I supposed to think?" Callie snatched the letter off the table. "I come home and see you staring at this stupid thing on the table in some sort of silent trance with a pack of cigarettes in your hand and you don't expect me to assume the worst? People usually don't get personal letters from the Chief unless they're getting-"

"It's for _you_, Callie!"

The Latina fell down to the carpet on her butt, silenced by the sudden outburst from her partner. For her? Why would a letter from Owen addressed to Arizona be for her?

Arizona simply stared back at her in stunned disbelief. This was so not how she had planned for things to go. What the Hell was she doing? Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and mentally rewound the clock.

"Are we starting over again?"

The smaller surgeon couldn't help but crack a smile – her wife as all too familiar with her favorite past time of starting from scratch when conversations got away from them. It was a habit she had picked up from her mother who had used it as an effective way of keeping her and Timothy from killing each other on multiple occasions.

Opening her eyes, she was greeted with the delightful pout of her "bad-ass" wife. "Yes, Calliope, now come here."

Callie scrambled onto the couch, relaxing into the outstretched arms of her wife with a grateful sigh. "I'm sorry I jumped down your throat like that."

Arizona shook her head and placed a gentle kiss against ebony hair. "I'm sorry I even own that pack of cigarettes."

Brown eyes met blue in a look of hopeful mischief. "Can I throw them away?"

The blonde felt her heart melt at Callie's child-like plea as she leaned down and placed a whisper of a kiss against her lips. "Maybe, but I might need one or two after you open that letter."

Callie waited for a nod of approval from her wife before tearing open the ridiculous rectangle that had thrown them into such a whirlwind argument. As she scanned the contents of the letter, her breath caught in her throat and she could have sworn her heart had stopped beating if only for a fraction of a second.

"Oh my God…"

Arizona closed her eyes against the anticipated attack. "Look, I know you might not be happy with where the money is coming from, but it's the only way I could think to-"

Her rant was abruptly halted by soft, sweet lips hungrily devouring her own. A hand tangled almost painful into her immaculately straightened hair and her head was pushed back until it was cradled lovingly in the crook of the arm holding the letter. The forceful kiss pulled out an involuntary moan from the back of her throat, which only grew louder at the feel of Callie's swift tongue dancing between her lips.

Pulling back with a delightful smack of their lips separating, Callie brushed a few stray strands of hair from her wife's face. "I love you."

"What?"

The Latina dropped her forehead against Arizona's with a soft laugh. "You thought I was going to be mad about this?"

Arizona could feel a blush of shame start to burn her cheeks. "I guess I shouldn't have?"

"Babe, this is amazing. You're amazing." Callie leaned in for another kiss, whispering against her lips. "Thank you."

When they finally broke for air, Arizona leaned forward and buried her face against Callie's neck. She sighed happily as she felt herself be pulled onto her wife's lap and a gentle hand stroke her hair. Now _this_ was how she had hoped things would pan out.

Callie couldn't peal her eyes off of the letter as she read and re-read it again, still not quite believing what she was seeing in the fine, black ink.

'… _The Board of Directors of Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, in lieu of approval for the proposed endeavor by the Washington State Department of Health and pending approval by the Health Authority/Ethics Committee, hereby agree to the requested allocation of funds from the Wallace Anderson Trust to the Department of Orthopedic Surgery to be used for and only for the advancement toward completion of the following goals:_

_1) Design and engineering of artificial cartilage under the direction of Calliope Torres, MD._  
_2)__A collaborative clinical trial of said cartilage for treatment in pediatric orthopedics under the joint direction of Arizona Robbins, MD, and Calliope Torres, MD. …"_

Arizona had been watching her wife drink in the letter over and over again and couldn't help but smile. That look of wonderment, of sheer excitement and unbridled creativity had been missing from those gorgeous brown eyes for far too long. That only served to remind the blonde of why she had approached Owen with this idea months ago. Callie deserved it.

"When he cut your funding…" Arizona waited for Callie's eyes to meet hers. "When he cut your funding, he stomped out a fire in you. I've seen how he treats your department – how he treats you in the ER or the OR – and it just isn't right, Calliope. You deserve more than a disgruntled Chief giving you the short straw because he doesn't understand the good you do or the good you were on the brink of doing while Richard and Derek were in charge."

A pale hand brushed away the silent tears the leaked out of brown eyes. "You hand people back more than just a heartbeat – you give them back their livelihood. You make bones out of titanium and you actually made cartilage from goopy crap in a test tube. Even if Owen didn't recognize it as something worth investing in, I know Wallace would have. I used to tell him all about the cases we worked on and sometimes just the ones you would tell me about because he thought those were the most amazing. _You_ are amazing."

Callie let out a tearful laugh as she wrapped her arms around her wife, pressing their foreheads together. "God, I love your speeches."

A dimpled smile crossed her pale completion. "I can't wait to work with you."

"I get to go back to the lab again?"

"You do."

"And you get to work with me?"

"I do."

"And we get to help little kids?"

"We do."

Callie took a deep breath and dropped her voice to a faint whisper.

"And you'll still love me if it doesn't work?"

Arizona pressed her lips against the welcoming ones before her.

"I will always love you."

"Me too."


End file.
